The Mercedes ISD board failed to name current Interim Superintendent Richard Rivera the lone finalist for the permanent position Thursday evening, possibly jeopardizing some of the stability the district seems to have found since a scandalous spring semester earlier this year.
Trustees at the district interviewed candidates for the position and voted 4-3 against naming Rivera the lone finalist.
Board President Oscar Hernandez, who voted against, said after the meeting that Rivera would remain in that post. Rivera inked a two-year contract to be interim superintendent in August
Rivera, however, said he wasn’t notified that that was the case. Even if it is, Rivera said, he’ll be weighing “other options.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I need to think about it. It came as a total surprise to me, so I need to think about it.”
Rivera declined to say explicitly whether he’d consider quitting. He said he wasn’t sure what motivated the board vote and that it surprised him significantly.
“All I can say is I’m disappointed. I thought we were doing — as an administrative team — that we were going in the right direction with facilities, with safety, with finances,” Rivera said. “But they must have other reasons, I don’t know.”
Hernandez declined to comment on the board’s decision and Rivera’s reaction to it.
“We’re very happy with Dr. Rivera. He’s still our superintendent,” he said.
The board did not publicly discuss or vote on any other candidates for the position. Hernandez declined to say whether the district received any other applications for the spot.
It’s unclear where the board’s superintendent search goes from here, or whether it continues at all.
District attorney Tony Torres also declined to comment on any other applications.
“The District is conducting a confidential search. As such, I cannot comment any further,” he said via text. That confidential search has been exceptionally confidential and a touch unusual so far.
In June, the board voted to place former superintendent Carolyn Mendiola on leave and hire Rivera as interim. Rivera largely focused on finance and safety reforms at the district, both significant areas of concern during his predecessor’s tenure.
The board seemed receptive to Rivera and his efforts. In August, it suspended its superintendent search and signed a two-year contract with him to stay on as interim. Mendiola remained a district employee at that time, but was no longer one as of mid-October.
The November elections brought four newcomer trustees onto the board.
The night those trustees were sworn in, on Nov. 17, the board discussed its interim superintendent agreement with Rivera in executive session. After that discussion, the board voted “to post” in relation to that item. It wasn’t abundantly clear that the board was opting to unsuspend its superintendent search, but two days later, the district listed a job posting for the position on its website.
It’s not clear what happens next. Hernandez declined to elaborate on what options the board has.
“As a board we’ll have discussions about what is our next step that we’re gonna do. It’s basically in limbo right now,” he said.
Those discussions will be held by a board with a new composition that hasn’t had much opportunity to deal with contentious issues yet.
Newcomers Marcos J. Garcia IV and Orlando Rodriguez asked for the board to discuss naming a lone finalist Thursday and both voted in favor of making that finalist Rivera.
They were joined by incumbent Pete Martinez III.
The rest of the board’s incumbents and newcomer Nancy E. Vallejo voted against naming Rivera the lone finalist.
